Breakdown of GMO Labeling Laws in Each Country (Global Map)

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Are you aware of the GMO labeling laws implemented around the world? While the United States and Canada have virtually no GE food labeling laws, countries like Russia, Australia, Italy, and more have mandatory labeling of nearly all GE foods. Just below you can view a global map of all the countries and their current status with GE labeling laws.

So what will it take to win over the government agencies and institute proper GMO labeling? Will it take 800 scientists to demand an end to this global GMO experiment? Or will enough March Against Monsanto’s ignite the final spark we need to label these questionable foods?

We have made some tremendous progress through our extreme activism – progress that affects the future more than we know. With the continued fight for GMO labeling, and ultimately the discontinuance of GMOs altogether, we are protecting not only our own rights, bodies and our children, but also generations to come.

Genetically Engineered Food Labeling Laws (Click to Enlarge)

Post written byMike Barrett:Mike is the co-founder, editor, and researcher behind Natural Society. Studying the work of top natural health activists, and writing special reports for top 10 alternative health websites, Mike has written hundreds of articles and pages on how to obtain optimum wellness through natural health.

24 responses to “Breakdown of GMO Labeling Laws in Each Country (Global Map)”

Typical Indonesian αsshole you are. Blame the Jews. That gets old. American Black Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was a lawyer who worked for Monsanto. Guess what. He was NOT a Jew! NOT A JEW! You Mooselums are pathetic, ignoramuses whose solution to world problems was the same as Hitlers. Go to Hell.

The problem is that BOTH parties are owned by the same communists who are destroying the country. Is Ob*ma that different from the Bushes? Bush gave us DHS, TARP I and 2, and bankrupting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ob*ma gave us Ob*maCare totalitarianism, completely opaque government, radical racism, corruption never seen here before, NDAA, and evisceration of the First and Second Amendments as well as the rest of the Constitution. We are in deep caca.

@Justin our parties are owned by multinational corporations that care only about profits and zero about the welfare of the people. These people are hardly Communist I think you have your isms mixed up.

Ob*ma needs to be impeached.
The CEO and all scientists in Monsanto must be arrested and tried. Monsanto must be shut down.
All GE fields must be destroyed — including those owned by megacorps like Archer Daniels Midland.
Clarence Thomas must recuse himself from all Monsanto cases.

North America sucks. They don’t care about public’s health and many people are leaving their countries. Look up CHEMTRAILS, yet another AmeriKKKan invention to kill all life on Earth. KKK = Kill Kill KIll.

The USA has been taken over by communists who are destroying our country by design. Slow-kill vaccines, chemtrails, poison foods, radiation from cell phone towers, Fukushima fish, highest corporate taxation on earth…

Communist China will become #1 economy this year says drudge today.

Ob*ma rejoices and the media plays interference for he and his treasonous ways by harping on some basketball team owner saying nγgger.

For those that are skeptical of the above research, I urge you to find out what your law actually says and then come back verify the data for us.

Australia and New Zealand have a joint body called "Food Standards Australia New Zealand" (FSANZ) so what happens here in NZ is what happens in Australia too.

The reason you see few, if any, GMO labled foods is because the bosses of the supermarkets eg Foodstuffs and Enterprise Foods are consumer savvy. They won't put GMO labeled products on the shelf because they know you won't buy them.

So the easiest way to check this out is to simply call the supermarket bosses and ask why no GMO foods on their shelves are labeled.

Please , do not include, Portugal on the list of food labelling GMO. GMO products is all over the place and nobody know nothing about . I believe for example 99% of all corn seeded are GMO and the people ignore that. Monsanto have free land here in Portugal to sale and promote all products , all most people use Round-Up whit out know all the consequences .
Thank you

We as a country are getting exactly what we deserve because we are not demanding better. Look at the HMO labeling referendum in California. It was defeated by the same brain dead voters who keep Feinstein in office.

Hi, in INDONESIA the land of felons, MONSANTO subsidiary is MONAGRO INDONESIA, in the past its top management team BRIBED some Indonesian officials and scientists. Its adviser/consultan is the heavy weigh, HARVEST INTERNATIONAL whose Chairman is a New Yorker JEW! And a loaded man who has been close to most high officials/civilians and cops and military and ex generals in the Armed Forces…

One of the possibilites for not to eat gmo products for people living in countries without gmo labeling law is just supporting local farmers markets. When you buy from farmers who use the principles of sustainable farming instead of gmo seeds you know that you eat healtier. I found an interesting article about that solution: http://blog.pulawy.com/en/are-gmos-the-best-solut…

Guys,
I love your website,
But being from Australia i can guarantee you that we have NO GE labeling laws and extremely limited amount of labeling on our food products.
I don't know where you got your info.
Either way, Keep up your good work.

the Non-GMO Project is funded by Whole Foods.
Whole Foods has been funded by Tom Vilsack.
Tom Vilsack is funded by Monsanto.

"In its email of Jan. 21, 2011 WFM calls for 'public oversight by the USDA rather than reliance on the biotechnology industry,' even though WFM knows full well that federal regulations on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) do not require pre-market safety testing, nor labeling; and that even federal judges have repeatedly ruled that so-called government 'oversight' of Frankencrops such as Monsanto's sugar beets and alfalfa is basically a farce. At the end of its email, WFM admits that its surrender to Monsanto is permanent: 'The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must.'

"According to informed sources, the CEOs of WFM and Stonyfield are personal friends of former Iowa governor, now USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and in fact made financial contributions to Vilsack's previous electoral campaigns. Vilsack was hailed as 'Governor of the Year' in 2001 by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and traveled in a Monsanto corporate jet on the campaign trail. Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.'s abject surrender is the fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns and passions of organic consumers and locavores. The Organic Inc. CEOs are tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told me this to my face. They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has been lost, and that it's time to reach for the consolation prize. The consolation prize they seek is a so-called 'coexistence' between the biotech Behemoth and the organic community that will lull the public to sleep and greenwash the unpleasant fact that Monsanto's unlabeled and unregulated genetically engineered crops are now spreading their toxic genes on 1/3 of U.S. (and 1/10 of global) crop land.

"WFM and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working to label or ban GMOs. The so-called Non-GMO Project, funded by Whole Foods and giant wholesaler United Natural Foods (UNFI) is basically a greenwashing effort (although the 100% organic companies involved in this project seem to be operating in good faith) to show that certified organic foods are basically free from GMOs (we already know this since GMOs are banned in organic production), while failing to focus on so-called 'natural' foods, which constitute most of WFM and UNFI's sales and are routinely contaminated with GMOs.

Once wrote to them asking them if they allow, through
verification process any GMOs, pesticides, etc within the animal feed process – for products like raw goat cheese, yogurt, range-free chicken eggs, etc.

They wrote back, mistaking me for a a business customer,
telling me that they could allow a percentage amount in and to email again, to discuss how they could accomodate that.

How do you even trust supposed labeling when projects like
'Non-GMO projects' — in alliance with Whole Foods – who in turn has in alliance with Tom Vilsack of the FDA – who himself is in alliance with Monsanto – who funded and gave donations to Monsanto — ?

According to informed sources, the CEOs of WFM and Stonyfield are personal friends of former Iowa governor, now USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and in fact made financial contributions to Vilsack’s previous electoral campaigns. Vilsack was hailed as “Governor of the Year” in 2001 by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and traveled in a Monsanto corporate jet on the campaign trail. Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.’s abject surrender is the fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns and passions of organic consumers and locavores. The Organic Inc. CEOs are tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told me this to my face. They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has been lost, and that it’s time to reach for the consolation prize. The consolation prize they seek is a so-called “coexistence” between the biotech Behemoth and the organic community that will lull the public to sleep and greenwash the unpleasant fact that Monsanto’s unlabeled and unregulated genetically engineered crops are now spreading their toxic genes on 1/3 of U.S. (and 1/10 of global) crop land.

WFM and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working to label or ban GMOs. The so-called Non-GMO Project, funded by Whole Foods and giant wholesaler United Natural Foods (UNFI) is basically a greenwashing effort (although the 100% organic companies involved in this project seem to be operating in good faith) to show that certified organic foods are basically free from GMOs (we already know this since GMOs are banned in organic production), while failing to focus on so-called “natural” foods, which constitute most of WFM and UNFI’s sales and are routinely contaminated with GMOs.

From their “business as usual” perspective, successful lawsuits against GMOs filed by public interest groups such as the Center for Food Safety; or noisy attacks on Monsanto by groups like the Organic Consumers Association, create bad publicity, rattle their big customers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Costco, Supervalu, Publix and Safeway; and remind consumers that organic crops and foods such as corn, soybeans, and canola are slowly but surely becoming contaminated by Monsanto’s GMOs.

Whole Food’s Dirty Little Secret: Most of the So-Called “Natural” Processed Foods and Animal Products They Sell Are Contaminated with GMOs

The main reason, however, why Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, is that they desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that 2/3 of WFM’s $9 billion annual sales is derived from so-called “natural” processed foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs. We and our allies have tested their so-called “natural” products (no doubt WFM’s lab has too) containing non-organic corn and soy, and guess what: they’re all contaminated with GMOs, in contrast to their certified organic products, which are basically free of GMOs, or else contain barely detectable trace amounts.

Approximately 2/3 of the products sold by Whole Foods Market and their main distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI) are not certified organic, but rather are conventional (chemical-intensive and GMO-tainted) foods and products disguised as “natural.”

Unprecedented wholesale and retail control of the organic marketplace by UNFI and Whole Foods, employing a business model of selling twice as much so-called “natural” food as certified organic food, coupled with the takeover of many organic companies by multinational food corporations such as Dean Foods, threatens the growth of the organic movement.

Covering Up GMO Contamination: Perpetrating “Natural” Fraud

Many well-meaning consumers are confused about the difference between conventional products marketed as “natural,” and those nutritionally/environmentally superior and climate-friendly products that are “certified organic.”

Retail stores like WFM and wholesale distributors like UNFI have failed to educate their customers about the qualitative difference between natural and certified organic, conveniently glossing over the fact that nearly all of the processed “natural” foods and products they sell contain GMOs, or else come from a “natural” supply chain where animals are force-fed GMO grains in factory farms or Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).

A troubling trend in organics today is the calculated shift on the part of certain large formerly organic brands from certified organic ingredients and products to so-called “natural” ingredients. With the exception of the “grass-fed and grass-finished” meat sector, most “natural” meat, dairy, and eggs are coming from animals reared on GMO grains and drugs, and confined, entirely, or for a good portion of their lives, in CAFOs.

Whole Foods and UNFI are maximizing their profits by selling quasi-natural products at premium organic prices. Organic consumers are increasingly left without certified organic choices while genuine organic farmers and ranchers continue to lose market share to “natural” imposters. It’s no wonder that less than 1% of American farmland is certified organic, while well-intentioned but misled consumers have boosted organic and “natural” purchases to $80 billion annually-approximately 12% of all grocery store sales.

The Solution: Truth-in-Labeling Will Enable Consumers to Drive So-Called “Natural” GMO and CAFO-Tainted Foods Off the Market

There can be no such thing as “coexistence” with a reckless industry that undermines public health, destroys biodiversity, damages the environment, tortures and poisons animals, destabilizes the climate, and economically devastates the world’s 1.5 billion seed-saving small farmers. There is no such thing as coexistence between GMOs and organics in the European Union. Why? Because in the EU there are almost no GMO crops under cultivation, nor GM consumer food products on supermarket shelves. And why is this? Because under EU law, all foods containing GMOs or GMO ingredients must be labeled. Consumers have the freedom to choose or not to choose GMOs; while farmers, food processors, and retailers have (at least legally) the right to lace foods with GMOs, as long as they are safety-tested and labeled. Of course the EU food industry understands that consumers, for the most part, do not want to purchase or consume GE foods. European farmers and food companies, even junk food purveyors like McDonald’s and Wal-Mart, understand quite well the concept expressed by a Monsanto executive when GMOs first came on the market: “If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it.”

The biotech industry and Organic Inc. are supremely conscious of the fact that North American consumers, like their European counterparts, are wary and suspicious of GMO foods. Even without a PhD, consumers understand you don’t want your food safety or environmental sustainability decisions to be made by out-of-control chemical companies like Monsanto, Dow, or Dupont – the same people who brought you toxic pesticides, Agent Orange, PCBs, and now global warming. Industry leaders are acutely aware of the fact that every single industry or government poll over the last 16 years has shown that 85-95% of American consumers want mandatory labels on GMO foods. Why? So that we can avoid buying them. GMO foods have absolutely no benefits for consumers or the environment, only hazards. This is why Monsanto and their friends in the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations have prevented consumer GMO truth-in-labeling laws from getting a public discussion in Congress.

Although Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Democrat, Ohio) recently introduced a bill in Congress calling for mandatory labeling and safety testing for GMOs, don’t hold your breath for Congress to take a stand for truth-in-labeling and consumers’ right to know what’s in their food. Especially since the 2010 Supreme Court decision in the so-called “Citizens United” case gave big corporations and billionaires the right to spend unlimited amounts of money (and remain anonymous, as they do so) to buy media coverage and elections, our chances of passing federal GMO labeling laws against the wishes of Monsanto and Food Inc. are all but non-existent. Perfectly dramatizing the “Revolving Door” between Monsanto and the Federal Government, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, formerly chief counsel for Monsanto, delivered one of the decisive votes in the Citizens United case, in effect giving Monsanto and other biotech bullies the right to buy the votes it needs in the U.S. Congress.

With big money controlling Congress and the media, we have little choice but to shift our focus and go local. We’ve got to concentrate our forces where our leverage and power lie, in the marketplace, at the retail level; pressuring retail food stores to voluntarily label their products; while on the legislative front we must organize a broad coalition to pass mandatory GMO (and CAFO) labeling laws, at the city, county, and state levels.

The Organic Consumers Association, joined by our consumer, farmer, environmental, and labor allies, has just launched a nationwide Truth-in-Labeling campaign to stop Monsanto and the Biotech Bullies from force-feeding unlabeled GMOs to animals and humans.

Utilizing scientific data, legal precedent, and consumer power the OCA and our local coalitions will educate and mobilize at the grassroots level to pressure giant supermarket chains (Wal-Mart, Kroger, Costco, Safeway, Supervalu, and Publix) and natural food retailers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s to voluntarily implement “truth-in-labeling” practices for GMOs and CAFO products; while simultaneously organizing a critical mass to pass mandatory local and state truth-in-labeling ordinances – similar to labeling laws already in effect for country of origin, irradiated food, allergens, and carcinogens. If local and state government bodies refuse to take action, wherever possible we must attempt to gather sufficient petition signatures and place these truth-in-labeling initiatives directly on the ballot in 2011 or 2012. If you’re interesting in helping organize or coordinate a Millions Against Monsanto and Factory Farms Truth-in-Labeling campaign in your local community, sign up here.

To pressure Whole Foods Market and the nation’s largest supermarket chains to voluntarily adopt truth-in-labeling practices sign here, and circulate this petition widely.

And please stay tuned to Organic Bytes for the latest developments in our campaigns.